Local Area Information
Nearest General Store :
Hopes of Longtown (10 Minutes by car) - Leave Cwm Mill and drive up the track to the road above us. At the top turn left. Keep straight on until you reach Longtown. At the bottom of the hill into Longtown you need to make a left turn by the Crown Pub. This quickly leads on to a "T" junction. Turn left at the "T" junction and Hope's is immediately on your right hand side. They specialise in locally sourced products but stock almost everything needed for day to day living.
Nearest Major Shopping :
Abergavenny (25 minutes by car) offers a good range of shopping, a cinema, many restaurants and cafes and a choice of large supermarkets (Morrisons and Waitrose) and for the price concious, an ALDI. On the getting here page of this website are directions from Abergavenny. Follow these in reverse to get there.
Hereford (25 - 30 minutes by car) offers a wide range of shopping, cinemas, theatres, restaurants and cafes. It has all the large supermarkets, the nearest of which is a Tescos which is just the other side of Madley from us, on a roundabout where the A465 reaches Hereford. On the getting here page of this website are directions from Hereford. Follow these in reverse to get there.
Best Place to hangout : Hay On Wye is a wonderfully quirky town with antique shops, book shops, vintage clothes shops and a plethora of small cafes and restaurants. Famous as the town of books and with a notable castle too, you can spend many pleasant hours exploring the town. A walk along the Wye from the town up to the "Warren" is very rewarding and not too challenging. In the summer months local people can often be found cooling off in the Wye swimming and wading out from the Warren's shingle beaches, a great place for a picnic.
Walking / Exploring : From Cwm Mill's doorsteps there is great walking all around. If you stick to the Michaelchurch side of the Hay / Longtown road the walks are less challenging but still rewarding. Otherwise cross the road and use the footpath through Black Hill farm to explore the Black Hill and the Cat's Back. Don't miss out on other walks which are perhaps more easily reached by a short car ride. Gospel pass and Capel-y-ffin are favourites spots of ours. We provide some laminates in the Cottages with suggested walking routes.
Car Tour : If you don't fancy the walking, you can drive round the Black Mountains instead. You don't need to miss a thing although you will have to get use to single track roads with passing points. Our advice on naviagting these is to take your time. Never speed round bends unless you can see the other side of the bend. Keep a mental note of passing points as you drive past them its good local road etiquette to reverse back to the last passing point if a larger vehicle is coming toward you and there is no passing point ahead.
If you take the car then you can travel round in a very pleasant "Black Mountain experience" loop by starting at Capel-y-ffin ( from ours head toward Hay) and then passing thru' Capel-y-ffin and Gospel pass to reach Llantony Priory, where you can stop for a coffee at the cafe. From Llantony Priory head straight on towards Abergavenny and you can turn back to Cwm Mill via by Pandy.
Eating out : If you want to give the cook the night off, and you want to avoid driving too, then the place for you is the White Haywood Farm Restaurant which is a walk down the road from Cwm Mill (toward Hay). There are torches in the Cottages make sure you take on if you undertake this walk at night as it gets very dark and night and you will not otherwise be able to see. Its good fun on the way home after Dinner to do some star spotting and see if you can spot the Plough etc.. There is also good dining not much further away at the Bridge Inn in Michaelchurch. For a good filling Sunday roast you won't go far wrong at the Crown Inn in Longtown. In our Cottage information we list these and a couple of "posh nosh" options in Abergavenny. (However, there are many other restaurants, pubs and cafes in Hay, Abergavenny, Hereford and the surrounding area to suit all budgets and tastes).
Activities : We have started to build a guide of activities (and service providers who operate them) that will ensure that you have a varied and enjoyable stay at Cwm Mill whatever is your preferred way to enjoy yourself. We have been particularly mindful of the needs of families. So there are Farm Parks and indoor play centre options for small kids, and for larger kids we have picked out activities like paintballing, mountain biking, canoeing etc. For older guests we have listed some markets to visit, museums and castles, cinemas and theatres. We are making you aware of options in providing this information; not necessarily recommending these activities, or the providers AND, of course, some activities have the potential to be dangerous. At the end of the day everything you and your children decide to do is a matter for your judgement and at your own risk.
A full list of activities, providers and contact details will be inside your Cottage when you arrive at Cwm Mill. We can send you the list when we accept your booking if you request this. We would recommend this because many activities need to be pre-planned in advance with the service operators as they often require groups of a minimum number before they will commit to staging an event. If your party is too small then, if they know of your interest, they are often able to match your party with another party to make up the numbers.
If you find other activities and providers that may be of interest to other guests do please mention them in your guest feedback and we will be sure to include them in the list.
Summary of Activities included in our list:
- Watersports (Rowing, Pedaloes, Sailing Dinghies & Canoes at Llanghorse lake; Narrow Boats and Motor boats at Monmouth Canal, Brecon; Canoeing on the Wye; White Water Rafting on the Wye and Usk near Brecon)
- Climbing, Abseiling and Caving
- Gliding and Hang / Para Gliding
- Mountain Biking
- Pony Trekking
- Llama Trekking
- Quad Bikes, Hovercraft and Rally Karts
- Laser clay Shooting, Paintballing
- Castle Visits
- Local outdoor and covered markets
- Museums
- Pubs, Restaurants & Cafes
- Comedy Venues, Live Entertainment Venues, Cinemas & Theatres
- Farm Parks and Kids Indoor Play Centres
